Mangaluru: Security breach? Toy helicopter lands inside airport compound

Mangaluru: The airport areas are beyond the limits for videography, photography and flying objects. The airport here has a multi-layered security system to ensure this. However, at around midnight on Saturday, an object got airborne, flew into the airport territory and suddenly landed near the old runway. This incident gave rise to tense moments in the airport for some time.

In February this year, some drone-mounted cameras had flown around the MRPL economic zone area without permission. Now, there was apprehension in the air as a person named Aditya Rao had planted a live bomb near the main gate of the airport sometime back. This had exposed lapses in the security at the airport.

The Central Industrial Security Force personnel carefully approached the thing and prima facie it looked like a toy helicopter that can be controlled with a remote. It is surprising that the children were playing at midnight under dark conditions. The airport officials have filed complaint at Bajpe police station.

The theory the officials put forth is that the toy, as per enquires made, came from the direction of houses and residential complexes located near the old airport. But how can the toy helicopter fly such a long distance is a question that remains unanswered.